Tag Archives: a fragrant offering

PLEASING SACRIFICES

Christian Life, ,

PLEASING SACRIFICES

“I have received full payment and have more than enough, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” Philippians 4:18, 19.

Now we have the full picture. Although giving to meet the needs of others is our duty, it is much more than our duty. Paul said that it is an act of worship! It is one of the sacrifices that we offer to God as an expression of adoration and praise to Him. Yes, we no longer need to sacrifice animals to worship the Lord but we still offer sacrifices that are pleasing to Him.

1. Our bodies – Romans 12:1

2. Our praise – Hebrews 13:15

3. Our generous attitude – Hebrews 13:16

4. Our resources – Philippians 4:18

5. Our submissive hearts – Psalm 51:17

In our previous meditation, we explored God’s way of keeping His resources circulating, by giving and receiving. God’s way of meeting our needs and the needs of others is through people. When we give to others, we create a current which comes back to us in our time of need and so there will be equality if we all play our part.

When people hoard their money instead of keeping it flowing, they opt out of the system and decrease the available resources to meet everyone else’s needs. We cannot claim God’s promise to meet our needs if we are not fulfilling the condition to help others. Philippians 4:19 is not blanket promise for everyone to claim, especially those who are not fulfilling the condition attached to the promise.

It amazes me how many believers have not taken the trouble to understand God’s ways. He is not a sugar daddy who indulgently dishes out whatever His children ask for, regardless of their obedience to His instructions. God works in accordance with His own laws and not in a disorderly and haphazard fashion. His law of sowing and reaping applies in the realm of agriculture and in every area of our lives as well.

“Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with his instructor. Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” Galatians 6:6, 7.

When hard times come, people pray desperately for financial help but nothing happens. Why? They have mocked God by failing to sow for a harvest. Would it be right for God to give on demand and violate His own law? That would make Him unreliable, and that is unthinkable! Instead of praying for help, sow some seeds and the harvest is guaranteed.

But is it not wrong to give to get? Is it wrong to sow a field full of wheat and not expect a harvest? The point of sowing seed is to have bread to eat and seed to sow again. A farmer would be a fool if he ate all his seed or stashed it away in his barn and failed to sow for the next harvest.

Jesus told a story about a greedy farmer who had a bumper crop which he stored away in bigger barns he had built to accommodate his increased yield. He sat back to enjoy his bounty with not a thought for the God who had provided for him. God called him a fool and took his life because of his selfishness. His harvest would go to provide for others, not because he was generous but because God had others to provide for as well.

How much better when we worship the Lord for His goodness to us by caring for His children so that they, in turn can also be generous when their opportunity comes. When God can trust us not to hoard our money but to keep it circulating so that everyone has enough, He will increase the bounty He lavishes on us because He is that kind of God. But if He cannot trust us with the little we have, He cannot give us more.

Giving to God when we have little ourselves may be difficult, but it is a step of faith as well as an act of worship. God challenges us as He challenged the Israelites in Malachi 3:10:

“‘Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.'”

Try it! God will never go back on His promise.

SCRIPTURE TAKEN FROM THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

PLEASING SACRIFICES

Bible Study, ,

PLEASING SACRIFICES

“I have received full payment and have more than enough, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” Philippians 4:18, 19.

Now we have the full picture. Although giving to meet the needs of others is our duty, it is much more than our duty. Paul said that it is an act of worship! It is one of the sacrifices that we offer to God as an expression of adoration and praise to Him. Yes, we no longer need to sacrifice animals to worship the Lord but we still offer sacrifices that are pleasing to Him.

1. Our bodies – Romans 12:1

2. Our praise – Hebrews 13:15

3. Our generous attitude – Hebrews 13:16

4. Our resources – Philippians 4:18

5. Our submissive hearts – Psalm 51:17

In our meditation yesterday, we explored God’s way of keeping His resources circulating, by giving and receiving. God’s way of meeting our needs and the needs of others is through people. When we give to others, we create a current which comes back to us in our time of need and so there will be equality if we all play our part.

When people hoard their money instead of keeping it flowing, they opt out of the system and decrease the available resources to meet everyone else’s needs. We cannot claim God’s promise to meet our needs if we are not fulfilling the condition to help others. Philippians 4:19 is not blanket promise for everyone to claim, especially those who are not fulfilling the condition attached to the promise.

It amazes me how many believers have not taken the trouble to understand God’s ways. He is not a sugar daddy who indulgently dishes out whatever His children ask for, regardless of their obedience to His instructions. God works in accordance with His own laws and not in a disorderly and haphazard fashion. His law of sowing and reaping applies in the realm of agriculture and in every area of our lives as well.

“Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with his instructor. Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” Galatians 6:6, 7.

When hard times come, people pray desperately for financial help but nothing happens. Why? They have mocked God by failing to sow for a harvest. Would it be right for God to give on demand and violate His own law? That would make Him unreliable, and that is unthinkable! Instead of praying for help, sow some seeds and the harvest is guaranteed.

But is it not wrong to give to get? Is it wrong to sow a field full of wheat and not expect a harvest? The point of sowing seed is to have bread to eat and seed to sow again. A farmer would be a fool if he ate all his seed or stashed it away in his barn and failed to sow for the next harvest.

Jesus told a story about a greedy farmer who had a bumper crop which he stored away in bigger barns he had built to accommodate his increased yield. He sat back to enjoy his bounty with not a thought for the God who had provided for him. God called him a fool and took his life because of his selfishness. His harvest would go to provide for others, not because he was generous but because God had others to provide for as well.

How much better when we worship the Lord for His goodness to us by caring for His children so that they, in turn can also be generous when their opportunity comes. When God can trust us not to hoard our money but to keep it circulating so that everyone has enough, He will increase the bounty He lavishes on us because He is that kind of God. But if He cannot trust us with the little we have, He cannot give us more.

Giving to God when we have little ourselves may be difficult, but it is a step of faith as well as an act of worship. God challenges us as He challenged the Israelites in Malachi 3:10:

“‘Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.'”

Try it! God will never go back on His promise.

SCRIPTURE TAKEN FROM THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

BE IMITATORS OF GOD

Bible Study, ,

BE IMITATORS OF GOD

Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Eph. 5:1-2).

Every word in these two verses is loaded with significance. In the earlier NIV versions, Paul’s words are translated as be imitators of God as dearly loved children. One of the requirements of a disciple in 1st century Israel was that he learn to imitate his rabbi. ‘Imitation’ in this context did not mean ‘a fake’ but rather a replica of his master. A disciple has to live in such close proximity to his rabbi that he learned to think, speak and act just like him.

A rabbi chose disciples in whom he had the confidence that they would become just like him. They were to walk behind him as he moved from place to place. He was essentially a roving teacher, instructing the people who gathered around him in the correct interpretation of the Torah – the 5 books of Moses. He also debated current issues in the light of what other rabbis taught whose authority to interpret and apply his interpretation of the Torah according to what he believed to be God’s original intention was recognised. This interpretation and application was called the rabbi’s ‘yoke’.

The concept of a yoke had special significance in Israel. The Israelites were agricultural people – they worked and lived off the land. Their word of God, made up of two letters, e and l, el, was derived from two pictures in the original paleo-Hebrew script. The ‘e’ was the picture of an ox head, meaning ‘strength’ and the ‘l’ was a picture of a shepherd’s staff, meaning ‘authority’. They understood God to be one who had strength and authority.

The same two letters, e and l appear in the word aleph meaning to learn by association. To a Hebrew person, a yoke was ‘a staff of the shoulder’. In order to train a young ox to plough a straight furrow, the farmer would place a yoke across its shoulder and yoke it with an older, experienced ox so that it became a replica of his ‘teacher’.

Now does not Jesus’ invitation have new meaning for you?

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light (Matt. 11:28-30).

Jesus, as a rabbi with authority from God, invited those who were tired of the demanding yoke of the religious leaders with its petty rules and rituals, to take His yoke. By learning to live the way He taught them, He would change their hearts and free them from the fear and guilt which drove them to seek God’s approval by obeying laws and rules.

In order to be imitators of God, we must live in close association with Jesus and learn from Him. Paul called this “putting on Christ”. God has freed us from bondage to Satan and to slavery to sin. However, change is not automatic. In close association with Jesus, we learn to think like Him and to behave like Him. It is a slow, life-long process which comes through practice. Let me illustrate.

Brick-makers use a mould into which they pour concrete which they must allow to dry before they take away the form. Once the concrete or clay is dry, the brick will retain its shape when they remove the form.

In a similar way, when we imitate Jesus by acting with humility and gentleness, even if we don’t feel it, we are creating a ‘form’ which will eventually become a way of life. Paul used another metaphor, that of getting dressed.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (Col. 3: 12).

The more we act like Jesus, the more we will become like Him. We are to ‘walk’ in the way of love. The Bible pictures life as a journey through a dangerous and unknown way. If we are to reach our destination, we must follow the one who knows the way lest we wander from the path and die in the desert. Jesus said, “I am the way.” He is the ‘light’ – He walks in the light of God’s Word and is, therefore, qualified to lead us to the Father.

I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life (John 8:12).

Jesus came to fulfil the Torah – God’s directions for reaching our destination. He insisted that He had not come to do away with God’s instructions but to ‘fulfil’ them – to show His people how to live as God intended. He wanted them to be examples to the surrounding pagan nations of His best way of living. He fulfilled and made the Old Covenant obsolete but the principle of the Old Covenant, the law of love, remains enshrined in the way He taught us to live in the New Covenant,

Our role as His disciples is to stick close to Him and to learn by association with Him, imitating Him in every detail of our lives until we become replicas of our Master in this world.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3, eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), a companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com

Be Imitators Of God

Bible Study, , ,

BE IMITATORS OF GOD

Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Eph. 5:1-2).

Every word in these two verses is loaded with significance. In the earlier NIV versions, Paul’s words are translated as be imitators of God as dearly loved children. One of the requirements of a disciple in 1st century Israel was that he learn to imitate his rabbi. ‘Imitation’ in this context did not mean ‘a fake’ but rather a replica of his master. A disciple has to live in such close proximity to his rabbi that he learned to think, speak and act just like him.

A rabbi chose disciples in whom he had the confidence that they would become just like him. They were to walk behind him as he moved from place to place. He was essentially a roving teacher, instructing the people who gathered around him in the correct interpretation of the Torah – the 5 books of Moses – and debating current issues in the light of what other rabbis whose authority to interpret and apply his interpretation of the Torah according to what he believed to be God’s original intention. This interpretation and application was called the rabbi’s ‘yoke’.

The concept of a yoke had special significance in Israel. The Israelites were and agricultural people – they worked and lived off the land. Their word of God, made up of two letters, e and l, el, was derived from two pictures in the original paleo-Hebrew script. The ‘e’ was the picture of an ox head, meaning ‘strength’ and the ‘l’ was a picture of a shepherd’s staff, meaning ‘authority’. They understood God to be one who had strength and authority.

The same two letters, e and l appear in the word aleph meaning to learn by association. To a Hebrew person, a yoke was ‘a staff of the shoulder’. In order to train a young ox to plough a straight furrow, the farmer would place a yoke across its shoulder and yoke it with an older, experienced ox so that became a replica of his ‘teacher’.

Now does not Jesus’ invitation have new meaning for you?

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light (Matt. 11:28-30).

Jesus, as a rabbi with authority from God, invited those who were tired of the demanding yoke of the religious leaders with its petty rules and rituals, to take His yoke. By learning to live the way He taught them, He would change their hearts and free them from the fear and guilt which drove them to seek God’s approval by obeying laws and rules.

In order to be imitators of God, we must live in close association with Jesus and learn from Him. Paul called this “putting on Christ”. God has freed us from bondage to Satan and to slavery to sin. However, change is not automatic. In close association with Jesus, we learn to think like Him and to behave like Him. It is a slow, life-long process which comes through practice. Let me illustrate.

Brick-makers use a mould into which they pour concrete which they must allow to dry before they take away the form. Once the concrete or clay is dry, the brick will retain its shape when they remove the form.

In a similar way, when we imitate Jesus by acting with humility and gentleness, even if we don’t feel it, we are creating a ‘form’ which will eventually become a way of life. Paul used another metaphor, that of getting dressed.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (Col. 3: 12).

The more we act like Jesus, the more we will become like Him. We are to ‘walk’ in the way of love. The Bible pictures life as a journey through a dangerous and unknown way. If we are to reach our destination, we must follow the one who knows the way lest we wander from the path and die in the desert. Jesus said, “I am the way.” He is the ‘light’ – He walks in the light of God’s Word and is, therefore, qualified to lead us to the Father.

I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life (John 8:12).

Jesus came to show us how to live by the Torah – God’s directions for reaching our destination. He insisted that He had not come to do away with God’s instructions but to ‘fulfil’ them – to show His people how to God intended for them to live. He wanted them to be examples to the surrounding pagan nations of His best way of living.

Our role as His disciples is to stick close to Him and to learn by association with Him, imitating Him in every detail of our lives until we become replicas of our Master in this world.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), a companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com.

For more details, check my website:

http://luellaannettecampbell.com/

Have you read my blogs on www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com ?